Brothers Ron and Russell Mael from Los Angeles, USA have been making diverse music since 1969 under various incarnations of Sparks. In 1979 they ditched the guitars and keyboards of glam geek rock and started working with Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, beginning a love affair with electronic music. Since then they have worked with a variety of people including Finitribe, Les Rita Mitsouko, Erasure and Faith No More.

The 2020 Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert took place on January 1, 2020, under the baton of Andris Nelsons in the Musikverein in Vienna. Andris Nelsons is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Since 2010, Andris Nelsons has been a musical partner of the Vienna Philharmonic. The New Year's Concert 2020 represented Nelsons' first time to conduct this prestigious international concert event.